Pascal Oparada
Nigerians are not happy that Modupe Odele, a lawyer and an #EndSARS promoter, who provided free legal aid to those detained during the protests, have been stopped from travelling by the Nigerian Immigration Service.
Modupe said she was due to travel to the Maldives to celebrate her birthday on Sunday when she was stopped by Immigration Service. She was detained and her passport seized.
But on Tuesday, Modele tweeted that she is fine and safe and has not been able to ascertain why she was stopped from travelling. According to her, she has been asked to report back with her lawyers.
“Hello everyone. Thank you so much. I’m fine and I’m safe. We haven’t confirmed yet why I was stopped on Sunday or by whom. But I’ve been invited back in with my lawyers today. I’ll update when I have more information but please don’t spread false news. That is dangerous,” she tweeted.
#FreeMoe has been trending on Twitter on Tuesday since the news of her brief detention and passport seizure became public.
Former minister, Oby Ezekwesili expressed worry that Moupe’s rights have been infringed upon and said she has written to the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno to immediately return Modupe’s passport and apologise to her.
“When at the beginning I saw how badly the @PoliceNG was handling the #EndSARS protesters, just out of the hospital, I went to meet the IG of police and advised against using brutality against citizens protesting brutality.
He promised to handle but failed. The rest is history,” she said on Twitter.
Social media users expressed concern that Nigeria is descending into dictatorship if people like Modupe, who was on the frontline of the #EndSARS protest could be detained.
“If they can detain Moe @Mochievous and withhold her passport, that simply means that we have been played.
The judiciary panel of inquiry is a scam and they will come for each of us.
Only solution is to get back on the street
#FreeMoe #FreeMoeDollars, @anyasi_emma said on Twitter.
Social media influencer, Wale Adetona said if the news about Modupe is true, Nigerians need to stand up for her and other organisers of the protest.
“If this news I’m reading about Moe is true, then we must do all we can to stand up for her and the entire @feminist_co team.
We shouldn’t fold our arms and watch her get bullied for nothing.
If nothing is done, they’d start picking up everybody one by one. #FreeMoe,” he said.
Modupe recounts experience
In recounting her detention on Sunday, Modupe said immediately she was stopped, the staff of NIS took her to the office and opened a computer and searched a portal upon which her picture came out with something that looked like a wanted person poster.
“I went to the airport, passed through immigration, and while I was putting my bags through the body and baggage scanner, the immigration officer who had previously cleared me, called me back. He told me he had orders from above to detain me.
“Okay, at this point I’m like excuse me, my flight is in an hour. On what grounds are you detaining me?” He didn’t respond. Instead, he goes to his computer where he typed in my name and something that looked like a ‘wanted poster’ popped up on the portal.
“He blocked my view so I couldn’t see most of it but I saw some of it. And it read something like – ‘This person is under investigation by XYZ Intelligence Agency. If seen, they should be apprehended on sight.’”
She wrote: “Since the #EndSARS peaceful protests started in Nigeria about three weeks ago, I and some super courageous women have been providing support to Nigerians as they came out to peacefully exercise their constitutional rights.
“I was specifically in charge of legal aid and so co-led www.endsarslegalaid.co where we succeeded in helping over 80 peaceful protesters who were arrested get released. It was back-breaking and emotionally tasking work but the joy that the family expressed when being reunited with loved ones made it all worth it.
“I’m not a full-time activist or human rights attorney. I am a corporate lawyer at the moment so dealing with police stations isn’t my area of expertise. I did what needed to be done in the face of gross injustice and had the support of over 800 wonderful volunteer lawyers”
